The goal of the NASA Space Apps Challenge is for teams to collaboratively develop apps addressing global needs applicable to both life on Earth and in space. During the 48-hour hackathon held April 28-29, teams at 187 locations in 69 countries (including virtual teams) developed 2,017 open source apps responding to specific challenges posed by NASA.

Along with five apps selected by the global community to compete for the Global People’s Choice award, a panel of NASA experts selected Global Award Finalists in five categories:

Best Use of Data

Best Use of Hardware

Best Mission Concept

Galactic Impact

Most Inspirational

Nominees for Global Awards created short videos describing their projects for evaluation by a panel of NASA experts. All apps created for the NASA Space Apps Challenge are open source.

Final Global Award winners are expected to be announced by the end of June, with Global Award winning teams (including the Global People’s Choice Award winner) invited to attend a NASA launch. For more information about this year’s competition and award winners, follow @spaceapps or check out the 2017 NASA Space Apps Challenge website.